Compassion A profound concern for students that springs from the heart as well as from the head

Compassion Literally: to suffer with – Teachers share with students a sense of frustration, regret, and pain at the difficulties and struggles they must undergo to learn – Teachers have to remember the difficulties – Without this sense of common experience, there is no successful practice of the art of teaching

Compassion “Compassion requires first that teachers know who their students are.” – Learn the names of students (see Highet) – Use questionnaires – Discover how they differ from one another – Discover how their minds work – Discover what their views are – Discover their strengths and weaknesses

Compassion Con’t – Not charity Teachers show regard for their students by setting high, though always reasonable, standards Teachers show regard by holding students responsible for meeting them Teacher show regard by exhibiting compassion toward them as they struggle to meet those standards Making work easier is not compassionate but negligent condescencion

Compassion “Compassion requires that teachers put themselves in their students’ places.” – This imaginative act enables students to anticipate the difficulties and reactions of their students – Helps teachers anticipate questions and misunderstandings – Helps teachers be honest and fair in their evaluations of student performance

Compassion “Compassion makes approvable enjoyable and correction palatable.” – Good teachers correct their students, but always in such a way as to protect the students’ dignity and self-respect

Compassion “Compassion moves teachers to acknowledge their students’ struggles.” – Good teachers are not dismissive of student difficulties – Good teachers do not dismiss student accomplishment – Good teachers do not allow their natural superiority to dominate their attitudes toward those who struggle

Compassion “Compassion means acting as a whole person.” – Compassionate teachers bring their whole personalities to class – Because they are professionals sufficiently mature to have emotional lives that embrace, undergird, and strengthen professional engagement – Teachers with no obvious signs of human feeling cannot establish that sense of comfort and security so necessary to creating a right teaching environment

Compassion Anyone contemplating teaching as a profession should consider compassion as a measure of suitability.